Button wins Australian grand prix thriller
Button was gifted the lead when Vettel suffered a brake failure on lap 16
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By Matt Hallam. |  |
Sunday, 28, Mar 2010 08:18
By Adam Leveridge.
Jenson Button took his first victory with the McLaren team in a thrilling and incident-packed Australian grand prix in Melbourne, having inherited the lead from Sebastien Vettel who suffered a brake failure mid-way through the race.
Robert Kubica finished in a very respectable second place for Renault, fending off the Ferrari pair of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who dealt with a late challenge from a storming Lewis Hamilton and a quick, but unlucky Mark Webber.
Rain was expected to fall 15 minutes into the race, however, drops began to appear as the cars lined up on the grid and it soon moved into the territory of the intermediate tyres.
Vettel made a good start and had a healthy gap to the rest of the field as he negotiated turn one.
Webber lost second to Massa in the Ferrari, who started from fifth, and Robert Kubica had made a decent start too, climbing up to fourth through the first lap carnage.
As is typical in Melbourne, the first corner claimed a number of casualties.
Alonso didn't get away from the grid too well and chopped the nose off Button in the McLaren as he took the first turn, sending the reigning world champion into Schumacher in the Mercedes.
Alonso span 180 degrees, facing the oncoming traffic and Schumacher had to pit for a new front-wing at the end of lap one, where a safety car picked up the field, to allow the marshals to clear up the debris and recover the stricken cars of Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenburg; the Williams newbie was swiped by an out of control Kobayashi, who lost another front wing on his Sauber, as the field approached turn three.
Hamilton, meanwhile, found himself in eighth at the restart having taken to the grass in avoidance of the spinning cars at turn one and, at the restart on lap four, immediately set about attacking his McLaren team-mate for seventh place.
Kubica also bolted away as the safety car returned to the pits, launching an attack on Webber as the field streaked towards turn one for the fifth time.
The Australian managed to fend off the Pole and was forced to go defensive again at turn three.
On lap six Hamilton made a move on Button for seventh place, leaving the reigning world champion vulnerable to Sutil in the first of the Force Indias.
Massa then lost a place to Webber and came under pressure from a train of cars led by Kubica in the Renault, just as Button reacted to the ever drying track conditions to pit for slicks.
An off-track moment as he rounded his out-lap indicated that his decision was slightly too premature, however, Button's pace soon picked up as his tyres rubbered-in, forcing the rest of the field to respond.
A flood of cars entered the pits for dry tyres, allowing the quick-thinking Button to scythe up the order and eventually into second place, directly behind Vettel in the lead Red Bull.
Webber took on slicks two laps later, running wide on his out lap and falling behind Massa's Ferrari once again and allowing Nico Rosberg through.
But, by lap 16, Webber had come back at Massa and was followed past the Ferrari by an opportunistic Hamilton.
The 2008 champion then pulled alongside the Red Bull - taking advantage of Webber's brief loss of momentum - and was clear of the Aussie on the approach to turn three.
However, Webber then came steaming up the inside of the McLaren, running wide and onto the gravel and clearing the way for Massa to retake both places and a recovering Alonso to close back on Hamilton's tail.
However, Hamilton soon recovered ground on Massa and saw his opportunity to make a move when the Brazilian got crossed up at the exit of the penultimate turn.
Hamilton had a run on the Ferrari along the pit-straight and took the half a cars width of room Massa gave him, to scythe up the inside into turn one.
A slower exit from the McLaren forced him to go defensive into turn three, which bunched up the Ferraris and allowed Webber to snatch seventh place from Alonso.
On lap 16, disaster for Vettel, as he lost the lead when a brake failure sent his RB6 into the gravel trap at turn 13, gifting the place to Button.
As this happened, Hamilton made a courageous move on Rosberg around the outside of the terrifyingly fast chicane at turns 11 and 12.
Rosberg came back at the McLaren and was positioned on the inside of turn 13, but had to yield as the pair approached the yellow-flag zone where Vettel's stricken Red Bull was beached.
Webber then made a move on Massa once again, although the Australian was forced to give up the place on lap 33, having eaten up his tyres.
Hamilton also pitted on lap 35 and exited the pits immediately ahead of Webber in sixth, who had Rosberg in close company, also on fresh tyres.
Meanwhile, at the front, Button held the lead, just managing his tyres with a comfortable 13 second gap to Kubica in second, with less than 20 laps to go.
Hamilton was consistently one to two seconds per lap quicker than those ahead of him with 15 to go, catching the train of cars led by Kubica.
With ten laps left, Hamilton was on the gearbox of Alonso's Ferrari, but struggled in the dirty air, allowing Webber to latch on to his rear-wing.
The McLaren driver was frustrated by a lack of grip on worn tyres, in the turbulent air, but had a look up the outside of Alonso with three laps to go, only to be speared by Webber.
This let Rosberg through into fifth, forced Hamilton to settle for sixth and Webber into the pits for a late nose change.